Latest update March 24th, 2026 12:30 AM
Cash strapped GWI owed bank $540M – Minister
Kaieteur News – Minister within the Ministry of Housing and Water, Susan Rodrigues, on Monday night stated that the Guyana Water Incorporation (GWI) had two bank overdrafts which resulted in the company owing the bank a total of $540M.
Former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GWI, Dr. Richard Van West Charles.
Minister within the Ministry of Housing and Water, Susan Rodrigues.
The Minister was appearing on a Globespan programme when she made this disclosure. According to the Minister, the company was in a financial crisis when her government assumed office last year.
In response to comments that were made by former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GWI, Dr. Richard Van West Charles, Minister Rodrigues said, “When we left GWI in 2015, the staff complement was 600, when we took over in August 2020, it had more than doubled that.”
She added that the company’s bank accounts decreased by $1.8B and it had two bank overdrafts of $279M. The company, the Minister revealed too, owed its suppliers and creditors over $800M.
Minister Rodrigues had made similar comments when she appeared on Kaieteur Radio earlier this year. She had revealed that GWI was found in a state of crisis and was fraught with mismanagement and corruption.
During that interview she said, “When we took office, GWI was in crisis, it was bankrupt, it had not received a subvention for five years and so it owed the Guyana Power and Light over $7B…The bank balance for GWI was reduced by $1.8B in five years. From August 2015 to 2020, the operational costs had increased by $1.1B and this was regardless of the two tariff increases, one in October 2018 and October 2019, almost 100 percent it increased by.”
Additionally, during an interview with the Department of Public Information (DPI), the current CEO of GWI, Shaik Baksh, had stated that the agency reduced its debts to suppliers from $800M to $260M from September to December 2020.
He noted that these debts were incurred during the period 2017 to 2019. “We owed a lot of money to suppliers and GWI was finding it very difficult to access credit to source important equipment and materials for its day-to-day operations…So, indeed, this is a big achievement. Many suppliers have been paid and we still have some outstanding current year debt, which is 2020,” he said.
The CEO had told DPI that this means that the company is now in good standing with its creditors and is able to procure much-needed materials to conduct its work in a timely manner.
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